EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- The engineer took a brief pause from holding his breath to shout, “Steady!” Sweat dripped down his forehead partly from the 100º F weather, but also due to anxieties rising as he watched a towering 15-meter radar reflector raised and placed into position. It was December 2024 and he found himself enjoying brief shade provided by the radar dish in remote Northwest Australia (AU). As to how his team managed to finish site construction for the radar site three months ahead of schedule was beyond him. He’d worked an overseas defense project before, but it was nothing like this project. The previous project took nearly 10 years to progress through numerous technology development milestones pertaining to funding, contracting, and force posture processes. Musing between the project differences, his attention snapped back to the present with someone shouting, “Fifth antenna’s up!” A surge of relief and profound satisfaction washed over his sweltering soul as he imagined 27 operational radar units, perfectly synchronized, working around the clock to execute an ambitious cooperative mission - the world had never seen such thing, but it would.
The Deep Space Advanced Radar Capability (DARC) team was racing to field an advanced radar system capable of providing improved sensitivity, accuracy, capacity, and agile tracking; a significant cut above what current radar could achieve for Space Domain Awareness (SDA) in the Geosynchronous Equatorial Orbit (GEO) operational regime. In addition to having advanced technologies and gifted engineers, the team had to identify and execute every flexibility they could find in defense acquisitions to deliver DARC on-time to meet U.S. Space Command’s #1 Space Surveillance priority.
In recent years, the Department of Defense's (DoD) Acquisition System has undergone transformative changes, adapting to evolving mission requirements and a dynamic technology landscape to meet operational needs. Notable shifts include the increased utilization of Other Transactions (OTs) and the introduction of new acquisition pathways, such as the Middle Tier of Acquisition (MTA), authorized in the 2016 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and later introduced in 2019. These changes introduce flexibilities to foster innovation and accelerated program delivery.
Under the United States Space Force (USSF) Space Systems Command (SSC), DARC has tested innovative acquisition strategies, including use of the MTA Rapid Prototyping (RP), contracting outside the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) with the use of OTs, and incorporation of partnerships through an International Security Cooperation (ISC). The DARC program office introduces several flexibilities discovered throughout this testing to achieve an unparalleled pace in developing and fielding space surveillance capabilities.
Middle Tier Acquisition: Accelerating Requirements and Development
DARC was authorized as an MTA by the Office of the Secretary of Defense in April 2021. The traditional Major Capability Acquisition (MCA) pathway traditionally requires as many as 50 statutory and regulatory documents before a program can enter the Milestone B phase to start development. In contrast, the MTA designation authorized DARC to begin RP with limited documentation; a delegated Independent Cost Estimate, Acquisition Strategy Document, Clinger-Cohen compliance, Systems Engineering Plan, and funding certification. With a 2-year lien, DARC released a request for proposal (RFP), awarded a contract, and progressed through preliminary and critical design reviews to begin construction all before the remaining regulatory and statutory documents were required to be complete.
Another flexibility discovered was through requirements documentation. Typical MCAs require a Capability Development Document (CDD) which is produced through the Joint Capabilities Integration, and Development System (JCIDS); typically taking more than 2 years. For DARC, a RP Requirements Document (RPRD) was completed at the service level in six months—avoiding an additional 18–24 months of schedule.
Delivering DARC’s first site as a RP MTA saved 2-3 years of planning using a service level provided requirement and the reduced burden of documents required before starting development. The flexibilities embraced demonstrate how MTA pathways can redefine the timeline for urgently needed systems.
Other Transaction Agreements: Flexible Contracting for Rapid Prototyping
The DARC program further accelerated its timeline by leveraging OTs under 10 U.S. Code § 4022, which provides non-FAR authorities for research and development (R&D) agreements. In May 2022, the program awarded a $341M RP OT through the Space Enterprise Consortium (SpEC). This approach saved an additional 9 months by expediting the source selection and contract award process. An Engineering Change Proposals (ECP) was also incorporated into the acquisition strategy for planned contract changes to capture the construction work after the site location and architectural engineering design was approved.
Unlike traditional FAR-based contracts, the OT streamlined administrative requirements and introduced flexibilities for the prime systems integrator. It also complemented the MTA RP acquisition pathway with flexible use of the R&D funding to complete construction activities—a move that avoided the typical 5-to-7-year timeline associated with Military Construction (MILCON) funded projects. As a result, DARC’s first site completed construction in less than 15 months, demonstrating the power of research agreements to accelerate delivery of operational capability while reducing the free exercise of bureaucracy.
International Security Cooperation (ISC): Global Coverage Trilateral Partnership
The DARC program’s approach introduced additional flexibilities through partnerships beyond U.S. borders, leveraging ISC authorities to establish a trilateral agreement with AU and the United Kingdom (UK). Under 10 U.S. Code § 2767, the program entered a cooperative project agreement, enabling the joint development, operation, and sustainment of the DARC system across three geographically dispersed radar sites to provide full SDA coverage of GEO.
The team also took full advantage of flexibilities afforded in DoD Financial Management Regulations (FMR) Volume 12, Chapter 9, which requires all international agreements to be equitable. DARC’s team pioneered an equitability model under benefiting assets, marking an important milestone in defining new approaches for defense cooperation with unique challenges of cost-intensive space acquisitions within multilateral agreements. This resulted in a partnership which reduced U.S. lifecycle costs by 25%, thanks to $2 billion in contributions from international partners to field a DARC site in each country.
The agreement also incorporated flexibilities provided by financial provisions that allow partners to contract on behalf of the U.S. for the project. A Determination and Findings (D&F) was signed by the Under Secretary for Defense for Acquisitions in November 2024 allowing both AU and the UK to deliver contracts on behalf of the U.S. to include a waiver from competition requirements available under 10 U.S. Code § 2350b. This saved both schedule and funding through reduced logistical arrangements and costs to allow Australia to supply fuel during development, while the UK contracted energy infrastructure upgrades- both key to meeting aggressive timelines.
While DoD Instruction (DoDI) 5000.80, Operation of the MTA, discourages the use of the MTA pathway for projects which “have significant international partner involvement,” DARC demonstrates that important flexibilities available through security cooperation can complement alternative acquisitions strategies to rapidly deliver capabilities in a global operational environment.
MCA Transition: The Journey Continues
The DARC team continues to demonstrate a curiosity and commitment to test the limits of acquisition flexibilities to accelerate the delivery of site 2 in the UK while the program transitions from a single site MTA to a three-site Acquisition Category 1 (ACATI) major defense program; here’s how: first, the transition allowed milestone decision authority to be pulled from OSD to the service level acquisition executive. Second, the program demonstrated the ability to use RPRD as an authorized requirement to continue through milestone B and C on the MCA pathway without having to complete the time-consuming CDD through the JCIDS process. Finally, DARC entered the MCA pathway, creatively progressing contracts and design work while preparing for milestone decisions.
A first Acquisition Decision Memorandum (ADM) was signed May 2024 marking entrance into the MCA pathway and authorized DARC to release the site 2 RFP and conduct the contract technical evaluation a year ahead of entrance into the next milestone. A second ADM was later signed in August marking the program in pre-development (before MS B), but still authorized contract award for preliminary design work 6 months ahead of the combined B & C milestone. With the contract awarded and the site design in development, the program will next enter the combined Development and Production milestones (B & C), allowing implementation of contract changes to order hardware and activities for site 2 construction, and marking the program in production 12 months after beginning site 2 contracting and design work.
Conclusion
By integrating MTA pathways, OTs, and ISC, DARC achieved cost and schedule efficiencies impossible with traditional government acquisitions to field a state-of-the-art radar system to meet operational space surveillance requirements years ahead of typical timelines. As threats to space systems continue to evolve, timely delivery of space capabilities becomes even more critical for national and allied defense.
It is imperative that we drive speed into our acquisitions to deliver new capabilities faster, outpace adversaries, and maintain the technological advantage we get from space. Programs like DARC serve as a model for curiosity, persistence, and innovation for delivering capabilities at speeds unforeseen across DoD acquisitions. Welcome to the DARC side of acquisitions! Brace yourself, we’re not slowing down.
Major Jacob Singleton, U.S. Space Force (USSF), Space Systems Command (SSC), is the DARC branch chief for the Battle Management Command, Control, and Communications (BMC3) Program Executive Office. In his current role, Singleton leads the DARC $8B International Security Cooperation for the Space Domain Awareness (SDA) mission. Prior to his current assignment, he served as an exchange officer for UK Space Research & Development at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) for the U.K. Ministry of Defence (MoD).
DARC is a partnership between the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia, designed to create an all-weather, global system to track very small objects in geosynchronous orbit (GEO) to protect critical U.S. and allied satellite services. The trilateral Memorandum of Understanding was signed Sept. 27, 2023, will last 22 years, and is a practical example of what the partners can achieve when working together to enhance mutual defense capabilities in the Indo-Pacific region.
This article was originally submitted to the in 2025 Defense Acquisition Workforce Writing Awards.
1st Accompanying graphic: accompanying graphic is already captioned as it was used by Lisa in this article, so we just need to reattach it to this article:
https://www.ssc.spaceforce.mil/Newsroom/Article/4071000/deep-space-advanced-radar-capability-makes-tremendous-progress-in-first-year
Here’s the photo:
https://media.defense.gov/2025/Feb/19/2003648841/1200/1200/0/250219-X-FC312-1003.PNG
2nd Accompanying graphic: we’ll use the attached official photo for Major Singleton and the caption is his truncated biography above:
USSF Maj. Jacob Singleton, is the DARC branch chief for Space Systems Command’s (SSC), Battle Management Command, Control, and Communications (BMC3) Program Executive Office. In his current role, Singleton leads the DARC $8B International Security Cooperation for the Space Domain Awareness (SDA) mission. Prior to his current assignment, he served as an exchange officer for UK Space Research & Development at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) for the U.K. Ministry of Defence (MoD).